hings" (6). However, abstract experiences, or those outside the realm of the senses, seem to Descartes more simple and general and therefore capable of being real or true. In this regard he cites mathematics and geometry: "For whether I am awake or asleep, two and three together always form five, and the square can never have more than four sides" (6).
Yet in both abstract and phenomenal terms, man can be deceived. The phenomenal aspect of this is that man cannot trust the truth of his senses; one could cite for example the phenomenon of sunrise and sunset, which we know from physics and astronomy to be an inaccurate characterization of what is really going on day in and day out. The abstract aspect of the argument is that one may be deceived, either by God or by himself: "how do I know that I am not deceived every time that I add two and three, or count the sides of a square, or judge of things yet simpler, if anything simpler can be imagined?" (6). If God does not generate a deception of this type, Descartes argues, yet God allows self-decept
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